Developing Better Teacher Evaluation

Abstract

Teacher performance appraisal is the process of arriving at judgment about individual teacher’s performance against the background of his work environment and his future potential for the school system. Increasing teacher and teaching effectiveness is arguably the paramount challenge facing public primary and secondary education in Nigeria. It is universally acknowledged that improvement in educational systems is crucially dependent on effective teacher self-evaluation. Effective teaching evaluation is a key to helping teachers improve their teaching, which then improves student learning. Teacher evaluations are often design to serve two purposes: to measure teacher competence and to foster professional development and growth. Effective teacher appraisal can also help schools to become sensitive to individual talent, performance and motivation by allowing teachers to progress in their career and take on new roles and responsibilities based on evaluations of their performance. Experienced teachers often state that the evaluations are not productive. Some of this dissatisfaction is based on experience which can be avoided. Teachers do not have any inputs: they are not involved in the evaluation criteria. Criteria for evaluation are determined by school boards who usually decide how the criteria are tailored. This leads teachers to distrust the evaluation process and question the validity of the results it produces. To be more effective, teachers need to participate actively in the evaluation process. Evaluators should spend time to make sure quality information is gathered. DOI: 10.5901/jesr.2013.v3n6p49